House Passes Funding Package with Pro-Wildlife Provisions

After successfully advocating against budget amendments that would have limited the application of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Defenders of Wildlife and our partners, ensured that the Interior Appropriations bill passed through the House free of any added threats.    

“Some of these anti-wildlife, anti-ESA amendments would have pushed already imperiled species even closer to extinction,” said Robert Dewey, Vice President of government relations at Defenders of Wildlife. “We are beyond pleased to have this bill pass, free from those encumbrances. There’s still a lot of work to be done and this is by no means a perfect bill, but we see this as a win.”

The harmful amendments had included the following:

•    Prohibiting Funds for Gray Wolf Defense: An attempt by Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) to prohibit funds from being used to list the Gray Wolf as a threatened or endangered species. 

•    Prohibiting Funds for Sage-grouse Defense: One attempt by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and another by Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) to prohibit funds from being spent to list the greater sage-grouse as an endangered species. 

•    Prohibiting Funds for Yellowstone Grizzly Bears: An attempt by Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) to require no funds be used against the Trump administration rule to delist the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem population of grizzly bears, which a court found to be illegal.

•    Preventing Funds for Lesser Prairie Chicken: An attempt by Rep. Yvette (R-NM) to prevent the use of funds to list the Lesser Prairie Chicken under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)

•    Preventing Funds to Rescind ESA Rollbacks: An attempt by Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) to keep funds from the Department of Interior that could be used to rescind or replace the Trump rule that took away blanket ESA protections for threatened species.

Wins for Wildlife

Despite the threat of anti-wildlife amendments, there were many wins for wildlife conservation, including the following:

•    Multiple-Use Lands: The funding levels provided by House appropriators are consistent with Defenders of Wildlife’s request for recovery of endangered and threatened species specifically on U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. The bill also includes $80 million for the conservation of sage-grouse on BLM lands.     

•   Migratory Bird Management: The bill provides the president’s request for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Management program, an $18.5 million increase, and includes language supporting the development of permitting program for incidental take of birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.   

•   Roadbuilding in the Tongass National Forest Prevention: House appropriators have included language to prevent destructive logging and associated roadbuilding in our nation’s largest forest – the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska – that would put imperiled wildlife and their habitat at risk, like habitat for salmon, Alexander Archipelago wolves and Sitka black-tailed deer.  

Missed Opportunity for Wildlife 

Although the bill included several wins, inadequate funding for imperiled species was a big disappointment. The primary program tasked with implementing the ESA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Ecological Services Program, was allocated a $43 million increase, $17 million less than President Biden had requested in his budget and well short of what is urgently needed. Defenders believes an increase of $200 million is necessary as a first step to addressing the biodiversity crisis. With 1 million species at risk of extinction, the planet is facing a biodiversity crisis. The Ecological Services program funds efforts to protect and recover imperiled species, hundreds of which are at greater risk of extinction due to chronic underfunding. The failure to adequately fund this vital program represents a huge, missed opportunity in the battle to reverse the biodiversity crisis.  

“Now that we know the playing field is set in the House, our next move is going to be in the Senate,” said Dewey. “We will be looking to them to bridge the gap between what the House has allocated and what is desperately needed. We are encouraged by Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s recent statements in support of endangered species and hope that is reflected in the funding.  Senator Jeff Merkley, chair of the Interior subcommittee has been a long-time friend to imperiled species and we are hopeful with him at the helm. The time for action is now; wildlife and the environment can’t wait.”